On Being Southern

[Cybear]

Is being Southern a matter of -

Geography: What are the true boundaries of the South?

Language: What manner of speech makes one Southern?

Attitude: Do Southerners share a common temperment?

History: Are Southerners defined by political and military events?

Cuisine: Are we what we eat?

Race: Are true Southerners color blind?

[dimebag1980]

Language: What manner of speech makes one Southern?

Well, there are so many different dialects throughout the south, ranging from Texas all the way up to D.C. Personally, I hate a thick southern drawl and wish we could do away with that and the word "y'all" forever.

[Newnan]

above all it's the accent. It's the surefire way to tell if a place is southern

[GamecockEngineer]

I think Geography has a lot to do with it. If you're above Florida, below Maryland, and East of Texas, I would consider you southern. And nothing against Texas, their BBQ is just different.

[mrh3]

Well, there are so many different dialects throughout the south, ranging from Texas all the way up to D.C. Personally, I hate a thick southern drawl and wish we could do away with that and the word "y'all" forever.

I am not the biggest fan of the the world either, but it's frequently used in NYC among A.A. mostly likely with Southern roots. It comes out as more of a "yoll" than "yawl" and is very useful as an alternative to the tems: you guys, yous, etc...

[CorgiMatt]

Well, there are so many different dialects throughout the south, ranging from Texas all the way up to D.C. Personally, I hate a thick southern drawl and wish we could do away with that and the word "y'all" forever.

Y'all is the most efficient word ever invented.

[BrasilnSC]

^ Agreed. I don't have a southern drawl and I say "ya'll" all the time. I think it is mainly a geographic thing. Not everyone who is southern has an accent, a certain attitude, or the same history.

[dimebag1980]

Y'all is the most efficient word ever invented.

Efficient, yes. Laughable, yes.

What's so wrong with "you guys?" It takes all of 1/2-second longer to say and makes the point quite well. And as I've discovered, most women don't mind that I say "guys" rather than "guys and gals."

There was a time when I thought anyone who said "you guys" had to be from the north, but that's changing.

[shanthemanatl]

I think we Southerners make WAY too big of a deal about our Southerness, and I think non-Southerners are even WORSE about defining us by where we come from and how we sound.

[Jerseyman4]

Is being Southern a matter of -

Attitude: Do Southerners share a common temperment?

For attitude, this is a common phrase:

If you dunt stoup, im gunna git uggglyyy .

[rusthebuss]

I really don't think about being southern or not. Too many people moving around this country now. I would say it would have mattered 50 years ago but I've grown up with people from all over the country and from other countries. I think people just need to worry about being an American and leave the civil war in the history books.

[NCB]

above all it's the accent. It's the surefire way to tell if a place is southern

In some ways, I disagree. There are places and cities in the South that don't have that classic Southern drawl. The majority of people in New Orleans for example, sound more like they're from New York City than from the South, as the New Orleans accent is very similar to the "Brooklynese" accent. But I would certainly still consider New Orleans Southern.

[krazeeboi]

Y'all is the most efficient word ever invented.

'Tis true.

[krazeeboi]

I really don't think about being southern or not. Too many people moving around this country now. I would say it would have mattered 50 years ago but I've grown up with people from all over the country and from other countries. I think people just need to worry about being an American and leave the civil war in the history books.

You shouldn't equate being a proud Southerner with the Civil War. Many African Americans, such as myself, are very proud of their Southern heritage and it has nothing to do with the Civil War (or at least a bitterness about the South having lost it). It's just about a certain way of life.

But you're from Norfolk, so what would you know about that? Just joking!

[NCB]

What's so wrong with "you guys?" It takes all of 1/2-second longer to say and makes the point quite well. And as I've discovered, most women don't mind that I say "guys" rather than "guys and gals."

"Y'all" has always been a weird word for me. I almost never type y'all on a forum or anything like that, because I just hate looking at the word, it just never seems to look right. So instead, I normally use "you guys." But I never say you guys when I'm talking to people through my day, I always use y'all and like it much better that way. From the "y'all comin" to the classic "how y'all doin?" For me, the fact that it is slightly faster just throwing in y'all than saying you guys is nice, but it's mostly just the fact that I've grown up saying y'all, and trying to suddenly begin to say "you guys" in my everyday life instead, would just be weird.

[rusthebuss]

You shouldn't equate being a proud Southerner with the Civil War. Many African Americans, such as myself, are very proud of their Southern heritage and it has nothing to do with the Civil War (or at least a bitterness about the South having lost it). It's just about a certain way of life.

But you're from Norfolk, so what would you know about that? Just joking!

Yeah I know you guys don't think Norfolk is in the South.............hold on didn't you guys push Va into the south forum?

[nashvol85]

Is being Southern a matter of -

Geography: What are the true boundaries of the South?

Where the Kudzu grows...

Language: What manner of speech makes one Southern?

There are plenty of variations of speech within the south itself. The most common to me seem to be the southern drawl (stretching syllables, kinda slow, soft, and easy goin speak), and the use of contractions.

Attitude: Do Southerners share a common temperment?

There seem to be two types (from what I can tell): southern hospitality, friendly to strangers and the opposite...unfriendly and inhospitable "y'all ain't from 'round here, are ya?"...the types that hate Yankees...publicly.

History: Are Southerners defined by political and military events?

In other's eyes, probably. I think a lot of southerners themselves think of being southern in more of the social history of the region...manners, religion, family values, before they think of the political and military history of being southern (although this is just from my perspective of being southern/knowing my southern friends).

Cuisine: Are we what we eat?

I'd like to think so...lol. There are some foods that we eat that people from other regions can't seem to stand.

Race: Are true Southerners color blind?

Good question. I don't know to tell you the truth. I would like to think that we are less color blind at this point than socially blind.

Y'all is the most efficient word ever invented.

Agreed.

[lammius]

I just can't buy into a Southern Identity thing at all. I grew up in VA and never thought about "being southern." What I've seen discussed above reminds me of a lot of the stereotypes, but I don't ascribe to any of them.

I never say y'all

The sight of a Confederate flag (ANY Confederate flag) angers me

I don't particularly care for Jesus

I don't have manners that are any better than Joe Average

I'm not into fishin', huntin', or anything else that ends with "-in'"

To me 5 is five, not fahhhve and 9 is nine, not nahhhhn

Apart from the stereotypes (which I accept as false) I don't really know "what it means" to be southern. Because of what I said above am I "less southern" than someone who does match the stereotypes? If I don't meet them am I an outcast or an honorary Yankee? Would Robert E. Lee be disappointed in me?

I guess I just haven't thought about or noticed anything that unifies southerners and/or makes them different from anyone else in the U.S. It seems to me southerners have a need (moreso than any other region I've lived in or visited) to have a unique identity and I don't why or even what it is.

[krazeeboi]

What's wrong with y'all Virginians who post here? Y'all can be as Southern as they get.

[Cybear]

Yeah I know you guys don't think Norfolk is in the South.............hold on didn't you guys push Va into the south forum?

I believe that's Naw' fuk.

[Jerseyman4]

I question southern Delaware and pretty much the whole Delmarva. The pennisula has a serious identity crisis.

[Newnan]

let me clarify. I wasn't saying that a person without an accent isn't southern, I was saying that if you live in an area where a pretty big percentage of people speak with a southern accent then you live in the south

[Cybear]

Is being Southern a matter of -

Geography: What are the true boundaries of the South?

Where the Kudzu grows...

Language: What manner of speech makes one Southern?

There are plenty of variations of speech within the south itself. The most common to me seem to be the southern drawl (stretching syllables, kinda slow, soft, and easy goin speak), and the use of contractions.

Attitude: Do Southerners share a common temperment?

There seem to be two types (from what I can tell): southern hospitality, friendly to strangers and the opposite...unfriendly and inhospitable "y'all ain't from 'round here, are ya?"...the types that hate Yankees...publicly.

History: Are Southerners defined by political and military events?

In other's eyes, probably. I think a lot of southerners themselves think of being southern in more of the social history of the region...manners, religion, family values, before they think of the political and military history of being southern (although this is just from my perspective of being southern/knowing my southern friends).

Cuisine: Are we what we eat?

I'd like to think so...lol. There are some foods that we eat that people from other regions can't seem to stand.

Race: Are true Southerners color blind?

Good question. I don't know to tell you the truth. I would like to think that we are less color blind at this point than socially blind.

Agreed.

This map, in my humble opinion, is right on the money - at least insofar as geography and perhaps linguistics are concerned - even down to the inclusion of what was known in antebellum Illinois as "Egypt".

Having said that, maybe what's really happening is that this region, once singularly insular, is adjusting to some loss of its singularity. I now live in a similarly insular city "Out West" where apart from a religious identity, there seems to be no particular attachment to place such as that attachment many of us grew up with in the South. Salt Lake City could just as well be in Minnesota as long as the culture were preserved. I can't imagine saying this about Nashville, Richmond or Charleston.

[dimebag1980]

In some ways, I disagree. There are places and cities in the South that don't have that classic Southern drawl. The majority of people in New Orleans for example, sound more like they're from New York City than from the South, as the New Orleans accent is very similar to the "Brooklynese" accent. But I would certainly still consider New Orleans Southern.

Very well said. I've thought that about the New Orleans accent many times. But yes, New Orleans is as southern as southern gets. It's surrounded by plantations throughout southern Louisiana, which represent the south beautifully I might add.

[NCB]

But yes, New Orleans is as southern as southern gets. It's surrounded by plantations throughout southern Louisiana, which represent the south beautifully I might add.

While I know exactly what your saying, many things about New Orleans are far from being just "Southern." Nearly everything about the culture, from the accent to the architecture, is one of a kind, and you won't find it anywhere else in the South. And many other traits that New Orleans exhibits are also far from "Southern." New Orleans is very different from the majority of its state(which I know you know), and even some of the immediate area around the city is different in many ways. For example, once you go about 15 minutes south or west of New Orleans, you are surrounded by pure "Southern," purely old plantation houses and live oak's and so on. Though that's not to say all of New Orleans is different from the rest of the South. The Garden District in Uptown for example, was at one time just a very large plantation. And this area is considered to be one of the best preserved collections of historic southern mansions in the United States.